Tree of Peace

A/N: Just a cute little (and I mean VERY little) one-shot I wrote as a present for Erzsebeth Bathory, in sort of thanks for all of the adorable and great Bamon fanfiction she has supplied our archive with. (And if you haven't read her stories yet, drop everything you are doing and do it NOW.

"Redbird, this is getting ridiculous."

Bonnie peered down from her perch on the tree to gaze down at her vampire boyfriend, who was standing on the boarding house lawn directly underneath the tree, his arms crossed over his chest, and his black eyes narrowed in obvious annoyance.

The redheaded psychic shifted her body slightly, attempting to make herself for comfortable on the thick branch, trying to be discreet about it, and not show Damon that she was at all uncomfortable.

"I don't care," she said to him softly, knowing that his advanced hearing would allow him to hear her all the way from down on the ground. "I'm not coming down until you both apologize and promise to stop fighting."

She was talking about Damon and Matt, of course. Ever since she and Damon had revealed their relationship to her friends, Matt had been the one to object to the union the most. He had ranted on to her about how Damon would only end up hurting her or that for all they knew, he could be using her as some part of his scheme to steal Elena away from Stefan, in an effort to make her jealous. Meanwhile, Damon had also been less than civil to Matt, his verbal abuse towards the human young man reaching an even higher level than what was normal. It was all out of, though he wouldn't admit it, jealousy. He just couldn't see, no matter how much Bonnie tried to reassure him, that she and Matt were only friends.

And all of these factors had led to the two of them fighting one after another, with words, and mindless pranks. Bonnie had had enough of it.

She heard Damon sigh, before a smirk suddenly crossed his handsome features. "Perhaps I shall simply climb up there and carry you down. It shouldn't be a hard task."

Bonnie's heart dropped for a second, knowing full well that Damon could very easily follow up on his words, force her to finally come down from the tree, and thus, ending her mission of finally getting her love and her childhood friend to bury their hatchets and agree to try to get along.

But then a thought suddenly occurred to her, and she smiled down at him brightly. "No you won't, unless you think it's worth risking a splinter. And wood really hurts when you're a vampire. I know. You told me once."

The vampire glared, obviously starting to lose his patience. "You can't stay up there forever."

"Yes I can!" She chirped enthusiastically, making a show of lifting up the book she had brought, and the box of animal crackers she could eat during her stay in the tree. "I have everything I need. But if you want to get me to come down sooner, you could always…."

"No." The word was flat, but filled with conviction; serious.

"Fine," Bonnie whispered, turning away from him again. "Then you might as well go back inside, because there's nothing else you can do to make me come down."

She almost hoped that Damon would continue to try to persuade her. That would at the very least, give her a time to try to further sway him into making peace with Matt.

But her hope deflated when she heard the front door of the boarding house open and then close, signaling the vampire's exit.

Bonnie sighed softly, and then took out the book she had brought to entertain herself while she was up there, opening it up and turning to the page she had left off on.

She really hoped this little plan of hers worked, and that Damon and Matt really would come around and agree to her terms. It would be sort of embarrassing if she ended up having to climb down the tree with no resolution to her earlier problem, after having made a big show out of it.

Secretly, Damon was right. She really couldn't stay up here forever. She could only hope that reaching her goal wouldn't require forever. Or not even another hour for that matter.

"Bonnie?"

She smiled when she heard the sound of Matt's voice. He was a bit less stubborn than Damon. Maybe it would be easier to sway him a little. At least she hoped it would be.

She shifted her gaze away from the book and glanced down at Matt, who was standing in the very same spot Damon had been only moments before, but with more of a pleading expression than an annoyed one.

"Damon said you refused to come down."

"He's right," Bonnie replied simply, before her facial expression took on a pleading glint of its own. "I only want everyone to get along. Please Matt, could you just….."

"No." His answer was just as abrupt and immediate as Damon's had been, but less cold. "Bonnie I…." He sighed before continuing, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't try to make peace with him. At least not yet."

Bonnie frowned. "Why not?"

"Because I don't trust him! Bonnie, I honestly don't think…."

"Trust me Matt," she said pleadingly. "I'm not a childish little girl, I can look out for myself now."

She was tired of being treated like a child. Albeit, sitting in a tree and demanding peace was a bit immature, but she had felt like it could end up working.

Matt sighed again. "Just come down…please? We can talk about it more in the boarding house."

"No." Just as both his and Damon's responses had been, it was stubborn and short. Three could place at that game.

After a few more moments of pleading, Matt, like Damon had earlier, left and headed back inside the house.

Once she was alone again, Bonnie slumped down against her spot in the tree, trying not to think about how truly bored she was getting, and her doubt towards how much longer she would be able to keep this plan up.

She was starting to regret this idea more and more as the time went by. Now, if she climbed down without achieving her goal, she would look ever more foolish than she already did.

The redhead's eyes suddenly widened when she felt the weight of someone sitting down on the thick branch next to hers.

She turned sharply towards the intruder. "Damon! What about the wood….oh, hi Meredith."

Meredith was seated carefully on the branch directly across from her, and as always, Bonnie became secretly frustrated when she couldn't tell from her expression what was running through her best friend's mind. The look on her face, as usual, was cool, smooth, and casual. Unreadable.

Bonnie sighed, and shifted a little in her seating position to get a little more comfortable. "Do you want to know why I'm up here?"

"I already know why," Meredith replied matter-of-factly, an amused glint appearing briefly in her gray eyes before they returned to their normal hue. "But are you planning on coming down any time soon?"

Bonnie shook her head. "Not until they both agree to try to stop fighting."

Silence ensued between them, and for a few moments, Bonnie wondered if Meredith was waiting for her to say something else.

But just when she had opened her mouth to continue, her friend finally spoke. "You have two very stubborn people waiting in the house. I doubt they will agree to your terms by force."

Bonnie looked down at her words. "I know." And she did. Deep down, she always faintly knew that this plan wasn't going to work. "I'm just so tired of them fighting…and making me feel like I have to choose between them, because I won't do it."

"Then tell them that."

Bonnie looked back up at her words. "Huh?"

Meredith shrugged. "Tell them what you just told me." She paused, and their eyes locked, Bonnie obviously waiting to hear more. This time, it was Meredith's turn to sigh. "Matt cares a lot about you, Bonnie. If he didn't, he wouldn't be reacting to your situation with Damon so badly. And Damon…as much as I don't care to admit it, cares about you in his own way as well. I believe that if you make an effort to explain to them how their fighting affects you, you will make more progress in getting them to stop than you are just sitting up here."

Bonnie smiled slightly. It was the first time Meredith had really voiced even a little of her thoughts on her newfound relationship with Damon, and she was happy that it wasn't a completely negative one like Matt's had been. "Thanks Meredith. And yeah….I guess I can try that."

"I love you both," Bonnie found herself saying in the privacy of a room with a door closed, with only her blond headed childhood friend and vampire love present and in front of her. "And it hurts me when you guys fight. I….I'm not saying you have to be best friends or anything, but couldn't you at least try to stop fighting as much as you do? I don't want to choose between the two of you, and I won't."

She then turned directly towards Matt, one of her hand subconsciously finding their way to Damon's as she began to speak again. "Matt, I know you only worry because you care, but….I love him, and I want to be with him. And I would feel better if you could try to accept my decision and get along better with him."

She then turned towards her boyfriend. "And Damon, Matt….he's important to me. He's one of my best friends, and….if we're going to be together, you're going to have to eventually accept him as a part of my life."

She knew that Damon's hostility towards Matt lately was in result of….jealousy, even though he wouldn't admit it. But she figured that was a conversation that would be better fit for a different place and time.

She sucked in a small nervous breath as she finished, awaiting both of their responses.

Matt, to her relief, nodded, though his voice came out somewhat reluctant as he spoke. "Well, I'm willing to try if you are." He turned towards Damon, his expression still careful and guarded.

Damon nodded in response, but his jaw was tight, his eyes, like Matt's, clouded with begrudging agreement. "Then it's settled then."

It was fairly obvious that both of them were only agreeing to try for her sake, but Bonnie still smiled in mild happiness.

At least it was a start.

"You don't have anything to worry about, you know."

Damon turned towards her as they both sat in his Ferrari at her words, but because of the dark ray bands covering his eyes, she couldn't quite see how he took them. "Pardon?"

Bonnie fidgeted her hands a bit in nervousness as she buckled her seatbelt. "You don't have to worry….about Matt, I mean. We're only friends. And that's all we ever will be."

And it was the truth. Once upon a time, she had a brief crush on Matt while he was dating Elena, but even that hadn't come close to the love and connection she felt with Damon, and it never would, at least not a romantic level. No, Bonnie McCullough was fairly certain that Damon Salvatore was the only one for her.

Damon chuckled. "Thanks for the reassurance, my little redbird, but I highly doubt Mutt would be much of a competition to your heart either way."

Bonnie giggled and rolled her eyes, and was just about to ask him to stop calling Matt "Mutt" when the vampire suddenly and tenderly claimed her lips with his.

Like I said before, kind of short, espeically compared to some of my other stuff but I thought it was cute. And I hope you liked it, Erzsebeth Bathory :)